Charpentier: Maroney has waiting room

FOXBORO — Laurence Maroney wandered around the locker room yesterday. He had a long, private chat with an ESPN reporter. He checked in on the domino game a couple of teammates were playing.

Russ Charpentier

FOXBORO — Laurence Maroney wandered around the locker room yesterday. He had a long, private chat with an ESPN reporter. He checked in on the domino game a couple of teammates were playing.

He sat in front of his locker and did some text messaging. Got up and paced.

You could say he danced around a locker room littered more with press than players, but that's a word for which Maroney doesn't hold much fondness this season.

Sat down again. Started answering the questions of a few reporters while still facing his locker, his back to them. But as more questioners surrounded him he sighed, got up, put on an exaggerated smile and faced the inquisition. He knew it wasn't going to be an enjoyable experience.

These are strange days for the Patriots' first-round draft choice in 2006.

His team is gliding along at 11-0, seeking to become only the second team ever to finish a season unbeaten and untied. The offense is averaging 40.2 points per game, and Tom Brady, Randy Moss, Wes Welker and company are garnering the accolades.

Maroney, expected to be an important offensive cog, appears an afterthought.

He looks more confused than anything.

He is not in the doghouse, Bill Belichick says.

The running back says he's not injured, nor are there any indications his sparse play is for disciplinary reasons.

Maroney, since starting the season with 252 yards on 54 carries in the first three weeks, has been a spare part.

He missed three weeks with a groin injury after his impressive start. In the five games since his return, he's had two games of just six carries and did not set foot on the field during the first half of Sunday night's game against the Eagles.

Something's up, and he would like to know as much as we would what that is.

Two weeks ago, he had just six carries in the 56-10 rout of the Bills.

Last Wednesday, before the Eagles game, disposable diapers cluttered his locker, as if a message from teammates to stop being a baby and get tough.

Then came Sunday's Eagles game. The Patriots called one running play in the first two quarters, a Heath Evans 1-yard touchdown.

Care to explain, coach?

"We had the ball three times in the first half, we took it down the field and scored touchdowns every time," Belichick said. "One of them got called back. We were in a proactive mode, we were moving the ball, (so we) stayed with it."

So, ah, where was Maroney? "I just answered that question," said Belichick.

All of this has gone slightly under the radar in Patriots nation — an 11-0 start will do that. But it has left the former University of Minnesota star wondering just what has happened.

"I don't ask, they don't tell," Maroney said yesterday, and while he likes to kid reporters while answering questions, it didn't sound like he was kidding.

He's a confused young man.

Is he sure there are no health or disciplinary reasons that could explain what's going on.

"Most definitely not," said Maroney to both counts. "I'm not a bad guy. I don't do things for them to be mad at me or disciplined for nothing. I don't give them a reason to."

Now it's pretty hard to argue with anything regarding the Patriots offense this season. While the Pats were calling just one running play in the first half Sunday night, Brady was throwing the ball 25 times.

It's all about roles. That's what Maroney says when pushed to talk about his pass protection abilities.

Third downs and/or the spread offense are Kevin Faulk's time to shine, and Faulk was out there most of the first half.

"It is what it is," said Maroney. "I'd like to do a lot of things more, but they don't need it from me now. So I have to wait my turn. My time will come. It's not that I couldn't, I could. But Kevin is our passing guy. He's that situation part of our team.

"It's like saying I'm the running guy. I'm happy they're using me to run the ball, but it doesn't mean Kevin can't run the ball. Kevin can run the ball. That's the roles."

This was the year Maroney was expected to excel, to build on a rookie season in which he rushed for 745 yards and six touchdowns, though injuries made him a nonfactor in the playoffs against the Chargers and Colts.

Instead, after rushing for 103 yards (with a 5.4 average) in a home game against the Bills on Sept. 23, his numbers have sunk.

But he did get a personal measure of satisfaction, not to mention keeping the Patriots' record perfect, by running in from 4 yards for in the fourth quarter Sunday night for the winning score.

"It was cool, a nice hard run," said Maroney, sticking the needle into his inquisitors. "Lot of media say I don't run hard. There you go. Happy now?"

He did laugh after that answer, but he hears the talk. Too much dancing before he hits the hole. To hear Maroney's critics, he should be a headliner on "Dancing with the Stars."

He also made a couple of nice moves — there's that dancing again — to make tacklers miss on his way to the end zone. But his nine other carries garnered only 27 yards, 10 of those on one play. He also dropped a couple of passes. It mirrored what he calls his roller-coaster season — up and down.

It's doubtful you'll ever hear Maroney blow up publicly over how he's being used. That rarely, if ever, happens on a Belichick-coached team.

He was asked point-blank yesterday if his frustrations would have spill over more if the team weren't 11-0.

"I don't know because we are 11-0. I can't tell you about that one."

It's a football adage that you need a running game to win games at this time of year. The Patriots seem intent on disproving that.

Meanwhile, Maroney waits, unable to find a rhythm, not wanting to rock the boat. Clearly frustrated, hoping his season will finally get moving Monday night in Baltimore.

Staff writer Russ Charpentier can be reached at 508-862-1263 or rcharpentier@

capecodonline.com.

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